Why it’s not my ABC anymore

by PETER GLEESON

18th Nov 2019 5:19 AM
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AS A KID, ABC radio and TV was my family's constant sporting companion. Whether it was the Ashes cricket, the footy at 6pm on a Saturday night, or the distinctive voice of Norman "Nugget'' May calling the Olympics, the ABC was as comforting as a cup of tea and a Scotch Finger biscuit.

Not anymore. The ABC has become the most destructive media organisation in the country, hellbent on dividing Australia through its alarmist and zealotry pursuit of Left-wing ideology.

It has become part of a Socialist cabal, comprised of the Greens and the Left of the Labor Party, who have jumped into bed with climate change extremists, animal liberationists, unions, Get Up!, parts of the judiciary and kooky academics.

ABC staff are like lemmings, blindly following their leaders - those who present the shows - into a cultural divide that is a worry for the average Australian.

This is not "our'' ABC. It's the ABC being run by Green activists, masquerading as employees.

Now, the final straw.

The ABC hierarchy, in its wisdom, has decided it will not send a broadcasting team to Tokyo for the Olympics next year - the first time since it started sending reporters at Helsinki in 1952.

The ABC has cited costs as the reason. That's an easy fix for Ita Buttrose, the chairman of the ABC. Here's some suggestions and my consultancy fee will be zero dollars.

One option would be to simply axe the worst show on TV, Q&A. You'd save enough dough there to send your radio people to Tokyo, and you'd even have spare change. Even Vlad Putin would blush at Q&A's Left-wing bile.

The other obvious option is to cut the salaries of its top people.

Based on its 2019 annual report, salaries and wages at the ABC increased by $23 million from the previous year. Remuneration for key personnel and the ABC board went up by $2.4 million. News director Gaven Morris earns north of $500k a year. He could take a big haircut. To give readers an insight into how far the ABC has fallen in the eyes of the Australian public, look no further than the mornings show on ABC Radio Brisbane, hosted by Rebecca Levingston.

ABC presenter Rebecca Levingston.

In the latest radio survey, Levingston slumped another 1.2 points, to just 5.1 per cent and a disturbing eighth spot.

Even ABC Classic rose 0.7 points in the same timeslot. Levingston was comprehensively beaten by 4BC's Ray Hadley on 8.3 per cent. Hadley does his show from Sydney and has ads all the way through.

Levingston seems obsessed with climate change. In a recent interview with Ms Palaszczuk, she mentioned the word "coal" 20 times.

Levingston devotes hours each week to talking about climate change. I'd swear she'd blame the Broncos crashing out of the finals on global warming.

The loud and clear message Queensland voters sent on May 18 about their concerns and values hasn't punctured the ABC bubble at South Bank. It's a massive worry when Hadley, a Blue to his grave, is more in touch with Queenslanders than a local Left-wing ABC luvvie such as Levingston.

Want to save money to cover the Olympics? Levingston would be the first to go.

The ABC is saying it will cost
$1 million to fund the Tokyo coverage. I'm sure a few key presenters such as Leigh Sales, Virginia Trioli, Michael Rowland and Fran Kelly would readily accept a pay freeze to ensure we went to the Olympics.

What's next for these budgetary cuts? The Ashes cricket. Live election coverage. The ABC has a moral and ethical responsibility to entertain and inform Australians in politics, sport and culture. It is failing us.

The ABC decision to pull its radio coverage of the Tokyo Olympics has added significance for the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), which wasn't consulted.

The Queensland Government and the AOC is making a significant bid to host the 2032 Olympics and under the International Olympic Committee's new candidature framework, Australia is the clear frontrunner.

What sort of message does it send to the IOC in Switzerland when our national broadcaster decides to withdraw its radio coverage of the Olympics? It's a terrible look.

The Commonwealth Government's likely Olympics Minister is Sunshine Coast MP Ted O'Brien, who travelled to Lausanne in September with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to formally put Queensland's bid on the table.

He is not happy.

"Here we are, all tiers of government on a bipartisan campaign towards securing the Olympics in 2032, and we have our national broadcaster making a decision to end its Olympic coverage,'' he said.

"It's important the ABC explains to the taxpayers - those who fund the body - why they did this.

"What we do not want, ahead of the IOC's final decision, is the national broadcaster walking away from this long-held commitment. I call on the ABC to revisit this decision," Mr O'Brien said.

Over to you Ms Buttrose and Communications Minister Paul Fletcher. You guys are paid big bucks to show leadership.

With the stroke of a pen, someone at the ABC has robbed millions of Aussies of listening to our sporting fortunes in Tokyo.

More importantly, they have sent a message to the IOC that we are not fair dinkum about the Olympics.